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Welcome to the STICS website!

STICS (Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney) is an open collective of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people committed to the repeal of the NT Intervention and the struggle for Aboriginal self-determination.

On 20th March, Stop the Intervention Collective Sydney will host a public forum in Redfern to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination 2015: First Nations Women Speak out for Treaty.

Friday, 20 March, 5.30pm for a 6pm start

Redfern Community Centre

29–53 Hugo Street

Redfern NSW 2016

Guest Speakers:

Rosalie Kunoth-Monks, Arrernte-Alyawarra Elder

Amy McQuire, South Sea/Darumbal woman

Amala Groom, Wiradjuri woman

Natalie Cromb, Gamileraay woman

Facilitator: Jeff McMullen, journalist and film-maker

Treaty would recognise the sovereignty of the First Nations People over their land and enshrine the right of self-determination which was promised to them when Australia ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 40 years ago.

The forum will also discuss the relationship between Treaty and the current campaign for constitutional recognition.

June 21 will mark seven years since John Howard announced the NT Intervention and sent the military into Aboriginal communities. This was one of the most shameful days in the history of Australia's brutal and racist treatment of Aboriginal people and has set the struggle for Aboriginal rights back many decades.

Government statistics show that since 2007 in the NT incarceration has increased 80%, reported rates of attempted suicide and self-harm are up almost 600%, child removal rates increased 80% and there is more alcohol related domestic violence. Almost $1 billion has been wasted on bureaucrats and punishment.In 2012, the Labor government passed the Stronger Futures legislation that extends the main measures of the NT Intervention for another 10 years. Aboriginal people will continue to be treated as second class citizens: police can enter their homes without a warrant, courts are unable to consider cultural circumstances when sentencing, alcohol and R18+ material are restricted regardless of community wishes and more than 10,000 Aboriginal people are held on income management against their will. Stronger Futures legislation also extended income management and the BasicsCard to new "trial sites" around Australia, including Bankstown in Sydney. But a strong campaign uniting Aboriginal people, community organisations, migrants and trade unions has helped hold this back. The Public Service Association (PSA), who represent Child Protection workers are refusing to be part of the expansion of the racist NT Intervention. Of all the "trial sites", Bankstown has the lowest number of people on income management out of all "trial sites". The Labour Federal government increased the categories for Compulsory Income Management and the Abott government is signalling more draconian measures. Join us for a protest to demand an end to Apartheid-style policies in Australia!

For more information please call Cathy on 0422385852

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SPECIAL EVENT

Say NO to continuing Stolen Generations

STOP the DOCS Friday snatchSTOP Goward's new lawsSupport and opportunity for families NOT child removal

Olivia Nigro, who played a central role organising the Child removal rallyoutside parliament on 13 Feb, will speak on developments in Gunnedah, as a way of starting some collective discussion about how we can take the struggle forward.

Bear, is a First Nations man from Canada taken and adopted out in Australia. He is currently working to change national and international adoption practices and laws, so that the abuses of the past are not repeated.

The Stringer - Stolen Generations continues but worse than ever - 15 Feb 2014Grandmothers Against Removals was formed by NSW regional Gunnedah grandmothers whohave been broken by the record number of removals by our State Governments - yes byGovernments - of their grandchildren from their Mothers. According to grandmother HazelCollins, the Stolen Generations continues and in numbers never-before-known. Ms Collinstravelled from regional Gunnedah, with affected families from across the State and from interstateto NSW Parliament to raise awareness of the record number of children being removed, and thecycle of devastation this is causing to the communities of First Nations peoples....http://thestringer.com.au/stolen-generations-continues-but-worse-than-ever/#.UwEyWznPy_4

Canberra Times - Fears over rise in Canberra's indigenous children in care - 13 Feb 2014Canberra's indigenous children risk becoming part of another ''stolen generation'', the head of Australia's peak Aboriginal childcare body says.The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care is demanding answers from the ACT government about large numbers of local indigenous children who have been taken from their families by social services.Secretariat CEO Frank Hytten said unconscious prejudice and a lack of support for families could be contributing to the large numbers of indigenous children in care across Australia.The latest report on government services published by the Productivity Commission found that on June 30 last year at least 140 of the 559 children in out-of-home care in Canberra were indigenous. ...http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/fears-over-rise-in-canberras-indigenous-children-in-care-20140212-32io4.html

ABC - Too many Aboriginal children in state care in NSW admits Family Services Minister Pru Goward - 13 Feb 2014 The New South Wales Minister for Family and Community Services has conceded the number of Aboriginal children in care around the state is too high.Pru Goward has made the admission ahead of a rally of Aboriginal grandmothers at State Parliament today.It is six years since the Federal Parliament's apology to the Stolen Generations, but for Aunty Hazel it has meant nothing.She says her grandmother and aunt were forcibly removed from their families and now four of her grandchildren are in care. ...http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-13/too-many-aboriginal-children-in-state-care-in-nsw/5256906

The most recent data shows that the number of children being moved into out-of-home care in the Northern Territory has just about doubled since 2007. Two-thirds of these children are being placed with non-Indigenous families away from their communities.

Elder Rev Dr Djiniyini Gondarra, as spokesperson for Yolngu Makarr Dhuni calls for this trend to be reversed by increasing family support services in communities. He has written to the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Adam Giles, asking him for his support. If you would like to support Dr Gondarra, please read the campaign letter below.

STOP 'Stronger Futures' - NO to 10 more years of NT InterventionSTOP the expansion of income management: Not in the NT, not in Bankstown not anywhereSTOP Black Deaths in Custody - Justice for Kwementyaye Briscoe and all victims

On the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and National Close the Gap Day

The NT Intervention has been a disaster - but the government is set to expand 'income management' to cover even more people from July this year, including in Bankstown.

Government statistics show that since 2007 in the NT incarceration has increased 75%, reported rates of attempted suicide and self harm are up almost 600%, child removal rates increased 70% and there is more alcohol related domestic violence (sources below).

In 2012, the Labor government passed new legislation, Stronger Futures, that extends the main measures of the NT Intervention for another 10 years.

Stronger Futures legislation also extended income management to five new "trial sites" around Australia, including Bankstown in Sydney. But a strong campaign uniting Aboriginal people, community organisations, migrants and trade unions has stopped income management in its tracks. Virtually no one has been placed on compulsory income management in Bankstown.

The Public Service Association (PSA), who represent Child Protection workers have voted to ban income management and have made no referrals. They are refusing to be part of the expansion of the racist NT Intervention

The government is trying to break the ban. New rules mean that from July 2013, compulsory income management will apply automatically to anyone in Bankstown who is under 25 and exiting prison, along with young people who have an 'unable to live at home' status with Centrelink or who are on a 'special benefit' due to homelessness or other circumstances.

If we act now we can stop this happening and defend the rights of some of the most vulnerable people in our community - prisoners and homeless youth.

Justice for Kwementyaye Briscoe

Kwementyaye Briscoe was an Anmatyere man who died in the Alice Springs watch house on January 5, 2012. Briscoe family spokesperson Patricia Morton-Thomas says her nephew was "a victim of the NT Intervention... The NT has become a police state".

While Kwementyaye was intoxicated, police threw him head first into a counter and gave him no medical check. He never regained consciousness after the assault. He was thrown face down on a mattress and died from positional asphyxia. Police played their iPods and checked the internet while he lay dying.

Greg Barnes, President of the Australian Lawyers Alliance has written an opinion saying police could be culpable for manslaughter or 'failure to rescue' charges. 33,000 people have signed an online petition calling for police to be charged. But the DPP are refusing to investigate the case. We need to keep up the fight for Kwementyaye Briscoe and all those who have died in custody.

The International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination falls each year on the anniversary of a massacre of anti-Apartheid protesters. This year it is also Close the Gap day.

Join us for a protest to demand an end to Apartheid-style policies in Australia. The gap can not be closed with racism.

Our wonderful STICS member Deni Langman will be - along with Graeme Mundine and Jeff McMullen - launching this highly important book. We highly encourage everyone to make every effort to support Deni and attend the launch.

We would like to invite all supporters of the Bankstown Say No To Government Income Management Campaign Coalition to the solidarity contingent STICS has organised to support the PSA's work bans on Income Management. This will be at the PSA stop work meeting on Monday 8 October which has been called in opposition to the NSW government attacks on the public sector (more information below).

This is a great opportunity to tell these courageous workers 'THANK YOU', to boost their morale at a very difficult time, and to help spread the word about what is happening. We also expect other unionists to attend in solidarity, so it will be a good opportunity to speak to and build solidarity for the bans with other unions as well.

Note that although the PSA ban on Income Management is state-wide in Community Services, workers at three Community Service Centres in the 'trial area' (Bankstown, Lakemba, and Fairfield) are the only ones who are in a position to implement it. Therefore many PSA members in attendance, including those in Housing, may not be aware of Income Management and the problems with it.

Public Service Association (PSA) members in Western Sydney at the Bankstown, Lakemba and Fairfield Community Services Centres (formerly known as DoCS offices) are implementing union bans on participating in income management and any activities relating to its implementation. Income management is part of the Northern Territory Intervention which is now being rolled out to 5 trial sites across Australia. It is widely viewed as discriminatory and paternalistic. The campaign against income management in Bankstown has been lead by the Bankstown Say No Government Income Management Campaign Coalition and supported by the Stop the Intervention Collective and over 65 local organisations, unions and faith groups, and by the NSW ALP.

Due to the courageous actions by workers implementing bans to defend the rights and dignity of their clients, no referrals for Income Management are being made through Child Protection in the Bankstown LGA (and therefore in NSW). This has crippled the ability of FaHCSIA to implement income management in the way they planned. Combined with community campaigning and ASU members in community organisations pledging not to participate in the implementation, the result is that two months into the trial very few people in Bankstown have been put on income management. None are on compulsory income management.

This success shows that community campaigns and union action can make a difference. It also deals a real blow to the credibility of the NT Intervention, and to the government’s attempts to extend it to communities across Australia.

Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory legislation currently before parliament would extend the NT Intervention for a further ten years. Explicitly racist laws, which vilify Aboriginal people & culture are being kept or strengthened including:

* "Star Chamber" powers held by the Australian Crime Commission for investigations in Aboriginal communities, including removal of the right to silence.

*Prohibition of consideration of Aboriginal customary law and cultural practice in bail and sentencing. * Blanket bans on alcohol on Aboriginal Land, despite consistent opposition from the Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT (APO NT) who have said, "The decision regarding alcohol restrictions should be for relevant residents to make... The principal effect of these widely flouted laws has been to further criminalise and alienate many residents".

* Increases in penalties for possession of alcohol on Aboriginal Land, including 6 months potential jail time for a single can of beer and 18 months for a 6-pack.

* Blanket bans on "sexually explicit or very violent material" on Aboriginal Land. These restrictions serve no purpose other than the perverse stigmatisation of Aboriginal men.

* Continued suspension of the operations of the permit system in communities

* Complete Commonwealth control over regulations in Community Living Areas Proposed amendments to the Social Security Act will see further attacks on the rights of Centrelink recipients. These measures will initially be targeted at NT Aboriginal peoples, but have national implications, especially in areas such as Bankstown where Income Management is being rolled out:

* An expansion of the School Enrolment and Attendance Measure (SEAM) means chronic school attendance problems could see families cut off certain Centrelink payments entirely.

* Staff from any nominated organisation will have the power to order people onto Income Management in the same way that Child Protection agencies currently do.

* Staff from nominated government agencies will be able to pass on information about clients to Centrelink, even if doing so contravenes State or Territory law.

* Income Management will follow you even if you move out of an Income Management area.